


Liberation

by nausicaa_of_phaeacia



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Drabble, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hints at future possibilities, Hurt/Comfort, Post "Chosen", Post Season 7, Post Series, Post Sunnydale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-11
Updated: 2013-09-11
Packaged: 2017-12-26 07:44:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/963372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nausicaa_of_phaeacia/pseuds/nausicaa_of_phaeacia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dawn is there when Xander breaks down. Nothing explicit, but you can read into it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Liberation

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short something, I hope you like it.   
> I own only what came out of my own head.

**Liberation**

It's surprising how the half-wrecked school bus still devours miles and miles as they're headed for Ohio. And it's surprising how rarely it hits him that his former fiancée is truly gone forever. But sometimes, at night, he stubbornly tells himself that there's still a possibility she made it out alive; nobody has seen her die, after all. 

Nobody would ever mistrust him: plain, human, average, solid Xander with the best heart of them all. Thus, not even Faith makes a sound when Dawn and him end up sharing a room in one of the motels. That's how, at night, she wakes to his very silent, muffled sobbing. She knows he's doing his best not to wake her, and considers ignoring him so as to spare him the guilt, but after less then a minute, reconsiders. Ruffling her tousled hair, she sits up and carefully crawls closer to the edge of the double bed where he's sitting, a mere shadow, shaking. 

He is startled when a gentle hand touches his shoulder; he turns to see more concern in her eyes than he has seen in anyone else's for years. "Shh," is all she says, making clear to him that no explanation whatsoever is required. She sits next to him, her feet reaching the floor only on tiptoe, and holds him through it. She is the only one who understands: Dawnie, the Slayer's little sister who has never been from this world. He's still trembling, even though the sobs have stopped, and very gently, she reaches to cup his cheek to make him look at her. When he turns to meet her eyes, the desperation still in his own, she smiles, shyly. "I know," she whispers.

Her touch a mere brush, she takes off his eyepatch, causing him to grab her wrist in shock, probably a bit more harshly than it would have been necessary. Dropping the black fabric, she meets his gaze for a split-second, then leans in to drop the tiniest of kisses onto the raw spot where his eye used to be. He freezes; not once before in his life has he experienced such gentleness. Not that anyone would have cared to try; not even her who he has lost. Pulling away, she gestures towards the eyepatch and says calmly, "You mustn't hide behind it all the time. I know we all need our armour, but from now on, you shouldn't need it when you're with me." When she smiles at him, he gives her the tiniest of nods. 

"Good," she whispers as she crawls back to the spot on the double bed that's still warm from her sleep, and makes herself comfortable under the covers. With a sigh, he puts his pirate armour onto his nightstand as he hears her breathing become ebb and tide. Then, suddenly cold, he climbs back under the covers himself, and, after a moment of hesitation, turns towards Dawn, his hand on her shoulder for the rest of the night, like the smallest of links between them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! :)  
> Let me know what you think!


End file.
